Getty Steph Curry guards Kevin Durant in a Golden State Warriors game.
For Golden State Warriors star Steph Curry, not all titles are created equal.
Curry sat down with Sports Illustrated’s Ashley Nicole Moss this week for a game of “This or That,” which turned into an assessment of his favorite titles. Moss asked Curry about Draymond Green’s assessment that the team’s latest NBA title meant a bit more than the others given the adversity the Warriors overcame over the last few years. The Warriors sank to the bottom of the NBA just two seasons ago, but once again reached the mountaintop in June as they dispatched the Boston Celtics to win a fourth title in the last eight seasons.
Curry agreed that it meant more this year, and even shared a surprising statement about Kevin Durant’s years on Golden State.
Curry Recalls the Durant Years
Curry was quick to agree with Green’s assessment of this title, citing his “ugly cry” on the court after Game 6 ended as evidence of how much the win meant to him. Moss pushed a bit more, asking whether Curry would be willing to trade the two titles he won with Durant on the Golden State roster in exchange for the one title in 2022.
“No, I want this one,” Curry said assuredly. “No, give me this one, all day every day.”
Curry shared a similar sentiment just after the Warriors won the title. When he arrived back in San Francisco for the victory parade, Curry recalled how “experts and talking heads” dismissed the Warriors before the season began, with some even predicting that they would never win another title.
Stephen Curry just said “PUT A RING ON IT”
“These last two months of the playoffs, these last three years, this last 48 hours, every bit of it has been an emotional roller coaster on and off the floor; and you’re carrying all of that on a daily basis to try to realize a dream and a goal like we did tonight,” Curry told reporters, via NBC Sports Bay Area. “And you get goosebumps just thinking about, you know, all those snapshots and episodes that we went through to get back here, individually, collectively. And that’s why I said I think this championship hits different. That’s why I have so many emotions, and still will, just because of what it took to get back here.”
Legacies at Stake for Curry, Durant
The latest championship did a lot for the legacies of both Curry and Durant. By winning a second title without Durant, Curry added to his resume as one of the greatest players of all time. Former Los Angeles Lakers star Derek Fisher shared some love for Curry this summer, saying that he entered the upper echelon of stars who could always will their teams to greatness.
“Steph Curry has separated himself as one of the few guys in the history of our game, that when you look back, wherever he was or whenever he played, his teams were really successful,” Fisher said, via SI.com’s Inside the Warriors. “I put him in that category with Tim Duncan, Kobe, and Shaq. Wherever he is, success is going to follow.”
While Curry added to his Hall of Fame case with the Warriors’ win, Durant’s own legacy may have taken a hit. Shaquille O’Neal, Fisher’s former Lakers teammate, said this week that Durant looks like a player who needed Curry in order to win a title.
Question: “Is Kevin Durant’s career outside of Golden State is an ‘abject failure’”
Shaq’s response: “Yeah… If you’re the guy and you ain’t get it done, that means you failed.”
(The Big Podcast)
“Yeah, if you go back and look at his career,” O’Neal said on “The Big Podcast with Shaq.” “As the best player and being the leader, and all that goes with that. See we were there, we saw it. OKC, up 3-1. One more game, and when you’re the guy, all the pressure goes on you.”